


your heart's false start

by skadthi



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Ferdibert Week (Fire Emblem), Fluff and Angst, M/M, Pre-Time Skip, Rain, Silver Snow Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21742582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skadthi/pseuds/skadthi
Summary: When it rains, it pours.Or, two instances when Ferdinand and Hubert find themselves stuck in the rain.--Ferdibert Week, Day 5: Rain
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 2
Kudos: 66





	your heart's false start

**Author's Note:**

> title from Your Biggest Mistake by Ellie Goulding
> 
> I realize Ferdibert Week ended a day or two ago but I was very busy so I didn't finish this until tonight :/

It didn't rain very often at Garreg Mach, but when it did, it poured.

Luckily, the day the skies finally decided to rain, it was the monastery's day off. And even luckier for the Black Eagles, Professor Byleth had announced the day before that it was going to just be a resting day. She could feel rain coming in her old knee injury, she claimed, whatever that meant.

Unluckily for Ferdinand, resting was simply not an option for him. He had to keep up with his studying, day after day, lest he fall behind. If he fell behind even more, he thought, he might never come close to even catching up to Edelgard.

His drive to succeed was what found him sprinting through the monastery grounds as fast as he could from the dining hall to the library. It was a little un-noblelike, but to his credit, it had not started raining until after he got there. Plus, most of the monastery took the cue from the thunder rolling overhead all night and morning to stay indoors, so it wasn't as if there was anyone around to see him.

Darkly, Ferdinand thought, with his hair plastered to his skin and his eyes only half open, even if anyone had been around, they wouldn't be able to see two feet in front of them due to this cursed rain.

He stumbled into the hall leading to the library, sighing as he did so. The knight by the door- a woman by the name of Emilie, he believed- gave him a sympathetic smile. "It's gotten real nasty out there, hasn't it?"

"Indeed," Ferdinand breathed, leaning back against the wall. He raised a hand slowly up to his hair. What a mess, he thought.

Emilie hummed and then walked over to the small table near them. "Here," she said. "I brought some supplies today 'cause I noticed the storm brewing."

She held out a towel to him and he took it, grateful. "Thank you," he said, rubbing his hands and face softly. "You have the gift of foresight- something it seems I lack."

Emilie laughed. "Even if there was no thunder all night last night, I can usually tell if there's a storm comin'." She tapped her wrist with her index finger. "Sprained my wrist real bad when I was just a girl. It's always sore when the weather is about to change."

"I see," Ferdinand said after a beat. "You are actually the second person to warn me after an old wound began hurting again."

"Maybe you just oughtta get a significant injury then," Emilie joked. "Wouldn't have to worry about getting caught up in the storm, then."

Ferdinand laughed brightly and folded the towel quickly. "I will have to think about doing just that."

He passed the towel back to her and she set it down on the table. "Lemme know when you're on your way back out," Emilie said, taking her place back by the door. "I brought a couple of umbrellas in case someone needed one. I can let you borrow one if it's still rainin' like this."

Ferdinand gave her a grateful smile, oddly touched. Even if she had brought the towel and umbrellas for any student, knight, or faculty member that needed one, he found it was still warming to be thought of like that. "You are most kind. I shall have to take you up on that offer."

She nodded and waved at him. "Good luck doing whatever it is you ran here to do, Mr. Aegir."

He hadn't realized she knew his name. "You may call me Ferdinand," he replied. "If I do not see you later, I hope you have a wonderful day. Hopefully the rain will let up soon."

"Okay then. Goodbye, Ferdinand."

He bowed, making Emilie laugh quietly, and then made his way towards the library. It was quieter than normal in the halls- it seemed even the staff had the good sense to stay indoors during the storm.

When he arrived in the library, there was no one there. It was odd, but Ferdinand found that he wasn't exactly displeased. Despite using the towel to dry his arms and hands off, his hair was still soaking wet, and he was sure he looked like an absolute mess in general. All the better that no one was around to see him.

He gathered a few books in his arms and then set them all down on the table in front of him. The individual candles weren't lit, only the candles hanging from the rafters, so he held one of the candles up to their flames and sat back down, opening a tome.

Ferdinand always found it easier to study by beginning with a topic he enjoyed and then working on to topics he liked less. In this instance, he began reading _A History of Tactics_ , a book that he had read a couple times before but that could always be read again, especially by the future Prime Minister of Adrestia.

He had barely turned the first page when he heard a voice directly in front of him. "My, my, whatever are you doing here?"

Ferdinand yelled, instinctively raising the hand he had laid on his lap up, slamming it into the bottom of the table. "Ouch!" he shouted, bringing the hand closer to his chest. He looked up. "Hubert? Is that you?"

"Indeed."

"Why in blazes are you standing there in the dark, sulking around?" Ferdinand asked and then thought a moment. "Actually, forget I said that. I suppose we both know the answer to that. A better question would be, why did you not simply announce your presence when I walked in?"

Ferdinand and Hubert's relationship was… a bit tumultuous, to say the least. At the beginning of the year, if you had asked Ferdinand, he would have told you that he found Hubert von Vestra to be a greasy, unredeemable spider of a man who only existed to follow Edelgard around like a lost puppy. The feeling was mutual, if Hubert's snide remarks directed his way were anything to go off of.

Now, though…

They had settled into almost an easy truce. Or, at least, Hubert's insults towards his character had mellowed out. His insults now weren't meant to seriously hurt Ferdinand, unlike at the beginning of the year when he meant to dig deep into Ferdinand's insecurities.

And, well. Ferdinand would take it to the grave, but he thought Hubert might be a little handsome. The other day, Ferdinand had said something that made Hubert laugh. It was a laugh straight from the stomach, unlike anything he had ever seen come from Hubert. It lit up his face, and his awful bangs had moved slightly off to the side so Ferdinand could see both of his eyes as he laughed. His heart had felt heavy in his chest in a way that it never had before.

He was still kind of a spider, don't get him wrong. A cute one though, Ferdinand supposed.

"I walked in after you," Hubert replied. He walked closer to Ferdinand's table, stopping with his arms crossed. "It is not my fault if you fail to notice your surroundings."

Ferdinand huffed. "Well, do forgive me for being focused on my task."

Hubert smirked. It made Ferdinand's chest flutter, and he wasn't sure if it was with attraction or irritation. "You're forgiven," Hubert said.

Ferdinand opened his mouth to speak again, but Hubert beat him to the punch. "Why are you even here, von Aegir? Even you must have the common sense not to wander out in this weather."

"I could ask you the same question," Ferdinand replied, a bit petulant.

"Ferdinand, I assure you that you do not want to know what I am doing," Hubert drawled. Ferdinand didn't know if he believed him.

"If you do not mind, I was doing something before you rudely interrupted. If you do not wish to say anything to me, then please leave me to my books."

"Why, Ferdinand," Hubert said, his lips curling up again, "it almost sounds as if you want me to keep talking to you."

He felt his face heat up. "I- You aren't-" he stammered. He cleared his throat, sitting up straighter. "I would not be opposed to talking to you, no."

Ferdinand's face still felt very hot, but he took great satisfaction in seeing red begin to tint Hubert's face as well. He looked a little shocked, too, but he quickly schooled his expression into something more neutral.

"What are you even reading?" Hubert asked, grabbing _A History of Tactics_ out from under Ferdinand's hands. He ignored Ferdinand's protests and slammed it close, staring for a moment at the cover. "Hmm. Not completely useless, I suppose."

 _Not completely useless_ , he said. Ferdinand wasn't sure who he was more upset with- Hubert for implying that what he usually studied was useless, or himself for feeling an odd surge of pride at Hubert's praise.

"I- Give that back, please and thank you," Ferdinand snapped, grabbing the book back from Hubert. He let go of the book easily, just looking amused at Ferdinand's internal struggle. "I was reading that."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Ferdinand said, looking down to try and find the page he was on before Hubert shut it. "Of course, I hope we will never have any real use for these war tactics, but it never hurts to be well-versed."

Hubert was silent as he continued to flip through the pages. _Aha_ , he thought, landing on the familiar page. He looked up at Hubert, another retort on his tongue, only to stop at the expression on his face.

He looked… contemplative, maybe, and a bit more stern than he did before. They stared at each other for a few moments, not saying anything.

"Hubert?" Ferdinand prompted when it became clear that he wasn't planning on saying anything.

His expression fluttered, and he took a step back. "My apologies. I was merely… thinking."

Ferdinand was worried despite himself. "This isn't like you, von Vestra," he said lightly despite the tense air around them. "Did I really just hear you apologize to me?"

Hubert huffed and smiled slightly. It was more genuine than any smile he had seen thus far, and Ferdinand felt himself relax slightly. "Ah, you are correct," Hubert said. "That was rather out of character of me."

"An apology and an admittance that I was in the right? Today truly is a strange day."

"Indeed," Hubert mused, tapping twice on the table. "I had best be on my way. I will leave you to your studying."

A surge of disappointment rose in Ferdinand's chest, and he shoved it down forcefully. Of course Hubert had more important things to do than talk with Ferdinand. Even if Ferdinand himself wasn't sure exactly what those "things" were.

He swallowed and forced a smile at Hubert. "I see. Well, I won't keep you. Farewell, Hubert."

Hubert stared at him for a moment more and turned around, heading slowly towards the door to the library. Ferdinand could hear the rain outside, still as strong as ever, pounding away on the roof of the library. A thought sprung to his mind.

"Oh, Hubert, wait!" he exclaimed, jumping up and running after him. Hubert turned around, looking bewildered as Ferdinand rested a hand on his arm.

"I- what is it?" Hubert asked, staring down at Ferdinand's hand on his sleeve like it burned him. Ferdinand followed his gaze and then yanked his hand back, embarrassed. He held his arm behind his back instead.

"If you are planning on heading somewhere else," Ferdinand replied, unable to look Hubert directly in the eyes, "speak with the knight, Emilie, before you depart. She has an umbrella for anyone foolish enough to venture out into this rain."

Ferdinand glanced up into Hubert's eyes. Maybe he was imagining it, but Ferdinand swore he almost saw fondness lining his face. "It is rather bold of you to insinuate that I am the foolish one here when you are the one soaked to the bone."

Hubert reached out and grabbed a strand of wet hair for emphasis. The gesture was small, but Ferdinand felt his face start to burn again, and he took an involuntary step backwards.

He cleared his throat. "Well, it has been nice speaking to you."

Hubert finally lowered his arm, staring at Ferdinand again with that musing expression, as if he was trying to figure out a particularly difficult puzzle. "I suppose it has. Goodbye for real this time, Ferdinand."

Ferdinand watched him walk away until he turned a corner, and then he stood there a minute more. Slowly, he raised his hand up to touch his hair where Hubert had held it.

A very, _very_ cute spider, he decided.

* * *

The day the Imperial army arrived at Garreg Mach, it was raining. A bit on the nose, if you were to ask some people, but it suited Ferdinand's mood just fine.

The past month passed by him in a daze. Edelgard declared war on the Church. Half of the former Black Eagle class left to join her, Hubert included. The Aegir household was stripped of its title, land, and home, and Ferdinand's father was put on house arrest. He had no home to return to, even if he wanted to.

The weight of the lie Edelgard and Hubert had been weaving the whole year sat heavy on his chest.

The battlefield he faced today was nothing like the mock battles and small skirmishes of their academy days. The Adrestian soldiers marching on Garreg Mach aimed to kill, and they were all much more advanced and skilled than any of the students he had faced in school.

The stench of blood, sweat, and burning flesh was so strong that it almost managed to overpower the sounds of clashing steel and neverending screaming. Atop his horse, Ferdinand saw the carnage clearly. If he stopped for a moment, he would also be able to see the blood and guts decorating both his armor and his lance.

Ferdinand felt angry, and he felt betrayed, and he felt scared, but most of all, he felt _hurt_. Almost two decades of his life was spent trying to prove himself a worthy opponent and rival to Edelgard, and it turned out that he registered so low on her radar that he wasn't even a tiny thought on her mind when she upturned everyone's lives. All this time, dedicating himself to being an advisor that would actually be worthwhile to the future Emporer, someone wholly unlike his father, someone who would be able to help the people of Adrestia, and it amounted to nothing in the end.

And Hubert… well, Ferdinand had refused to touch those feelings with a ten foot pole. Dorothea tried to talk to him about it once, but Ferdinand shut her down. It was done. They were done before they had even started.

What a joke.

Initially, the Professor paired him up during the battle with Lorenz, but after he took an axe to the shoulder, he had to fall back away from Ferdinand. Lorenz was one of Ferdinand's closest friends, one that he trusted almost completely, so he was glad to see him fall back out of danger.

However, Lorenz falling back also meant that Ferdinand was alone on the battlefield, and he feared he might be in over his head.

With all the smoke in the air from the fires, it was difficult to see where, exactly, he was. This wasn't a part of Garreg Mach that Ferdinand had frequented, either, so even if he could see, he wasn't completely sure he would be able to find his way back to his allies safely anyway.

He sat behind a semi-secluded wall for a few moments, taking time to rub a vulnerary on a sword wound on his arm. Vulneraries always hurt Ferdinand moreso than they seemed to hurt other people, but this time he barely felt it as it began to stitch his skin back together.

Ferdinand took a deep breath and spurred his horse on, raising his lance up once more. Immediately, he cut down a dark mage and a warrior who rushed at them. He could feel himself growing more and more apathetic with each soldier he killed. He wasn't sure if that worried him or not.

He shoved his spear through the back of an archer that was targeting a Garreg Mach pegasus knight, and then spurred his horse further in the direction of the woman. If she was here, he thought, maybe other allies would be around the corner as well.

The pegasus knight swerved at the last second and Ferdinand realized it too late, instead heading in the opposite direction. He huffed, starting to turn his horse in her direction, and then-

"Hubert?" he breathed.

There was absolutely no way that Hubert could have heard him over the roar of battle and the rain pouring down around them, but when Ferdinand spoke, Hubert turned to look at him. There was blood splattered across his face, and his hands were weaving spells that were currently cutting down Ferdinand's own allies, but he still looked so, so beautiful.

Ferdinand's chest hurt, and it wasn't from any injury.

Hubert eyes widened and he, too, stared at Ferdinand for a moment. Then, his eyes hardened. "Von Aegir!" he yelled, turning towards him. "I see you have chosen to stand on the wrong side of history. What a pity."

Anger rose up in Ferdinand's chest, more intense than all of the anger he had felt in the month since he and Edelgard left. "You left me no choice, you awful man! What did you want me to do?"

"There is always a choice," Hubert replied and summoned a spell to his hand, pointing it at Ferdinand. "You just chose the wrong one."

He and Hubert had sparred before, which is how Ferdinand knew that the spell gathering in Hubert's hand was a very weak one. It was showy and dramatic, but it barely hurt worse than a bad itch. Most importantly, all it did was put its target to sleep. "Hubert, what-"

Hubert moved his hand to shoot, but at the last second his eyes darted past Ferdinand and he reaimed, changing his spell to something more deadly. Behind him, Ferdinand heard a pained scream.

He whipped his head around to see an archer burning alive, the bow that had been pointing just a second ago at his skull on the ground before her. Her screams lasted only a second before she fell forward, dead.

Ferdinand looked back at Hubert, crazed and alarmed. "You saved me," he whispered.

Hubert looked angry and a bit wild- a perfect mirror of Ferdinand's own eyes. "When next we meet," he grounded out, almost as if it hurt him, "you will die. That is a promise."

 _Is it a promise, or is it a warning?_ Ferdinand thought, but he didn't dare speak it aloud.

Instead, he nodded sharply, grabbing his horse's reins again. He moved to turn back around, but before he could, a spell hit him in the side of the head, knocking him off of his horse. She yelled, taking off further into the smoke and rain obscuring Ferdinand's vision.

Blurry footsteps entered his vision, and when he glanced up, he saw Hubert's face. Despite everything, Ferdinand thought he saw regret in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Ferdinand," Hubert said, "but you're not dying today."

The bastard hit him with the sleep spell, Ferdinand realized. He really was getting sloppy if he didn't notice such an obvious attack.

As Hubert dragged him to a more secluded spot, Ferdinand rasped, "Thought you weren't going to apologize again."

His vision swam, and he vaguely heard Hubert chuckle darkly. "I suppose I did promise that, didn't I."

Hubert laid him down behind a bush and Ferdinand felt his consciousness start to wane. He wanted to get up and strangle Hubert for doing this- for daring to give Ferdinand false hope, for pretending to care about him when everything else he had done indicated that he hated him- but he didn't have the energy.

The last thing Ferdinand felt was a cool hand on his forehead. "Goodbye, Ferdinand," the voice above him said.

Darkness enveloped Ferdinand, and he knew no more.

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to Your Biggest Mistake the other day and thought "haha this is kind of like Ferdibert on any path besides Crimson Flower" because I'm a glutton for pain


End file.
